Johanna Sebaya
South African
Let’s Work Together to Fight AIDS
2005
Embroidered cloth
The “Siyazama” Project
Michigan State University Museum
Photo by Pearl Yee Wong
This cloth, created as part of the “Siyazama” Project, articulates the communal impact of HIV/AIDS in South African communities. Sebaya, who is from Winterveldt in South Africa’s North West Province, emphasizes community in a variety of ways.
Deaths caused by HIV/AIDS are deeply impactful, and the effort to help those who are ill is consuming. The scene depicted is both observational and aspirational. Sebaya captures the pain caused by HIV/AIDS and the gravity of the health crisis, while creating a rallying cry for improvement.
Notably, the cloth evokes optimism––Sebaya depicts life in abundance using vibrant colors, alluding to the goals of improving communal health and collectively fighting HIV/AIDS. This work also provides a critical function of “Siyazama”: it provides women a platform for speaking about stigmatized subjects.
Alexander Kogan ’20
Bibliography:
Abu Baker, Hwiada Mahmoud and Alawia Ibrahim Farag. “Stigma and the Process of Deconstructing the Social Identity of Women Living with HIV/AIDS in Sudan.” In Perspectives on Youth, HIV/AIDS and Indigenous Knowledges in Africa, edited by Anders Breidlid, Austin M. Cheyeka, and Alawia Ibrahim Farag, 41-60. Rotterdam: Sense Publishers, 2015.
Although focused on Sudan and not South Africa, this article is greatly useful for understanding the stigmatization of living with HIV/AIDS for women. This is fundamental to what “Siyazama” is all about––giving women (and others) the chance to engage in a dialogue about a typically taboo subject and talk about their experiences.
Wells, Kate, Marsha MacDowell, C. Kurt Dewhurst, and Marit Dewhurst. Siyazama: Art, AIDS and Education in South Africa. Scottsville, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa: University of KwaZulu-Natal Press, 2012.
This book contains a series of articles expressly about the “Siyazama” Project, through which Let’s Work Together to Fight AIDS was created. This source is of foremost importance in understanding the goals and details of the Project, as well as in providing a general understanding of the interplay between artistic expression and health discourse.
Wells, Kate, Marsha MacDowell, C. Kurt Dewhurst, and Marit Dewhurst. Siyazama: Art, AIDS and Education in South Africa. Scottsville, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa: University of KwaZulu-Natal Press, 2012.
This citation is noted for AIDS Orphans, as well. This particular object also comes from the “Siyazama” Project, and can be better understood thanks to this book.
